WAR  MESSAGE 


OF 


PRESIDENT  WILSON 


AND 


PROCLAMATION 

Declaring  State  of  War 


INCLUDING 
RULES  FOR  CONDUCT  OF  ENEMY  ALIENS 


APRIL  SECOND.  NINETEEN-SEVENTEEN 


Elncoo  Pub.  Co.,  Print, 


680  Stevenson  St.,  S.  F. 


Facility 


tJCS'B  LIBRARY 


War  Message  of  President  Wilson 


Delivered  to  Sixty-Fifth  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  April  Second,   Nineteen  -  Seventeen 


The  text  of  President  Wilson's  address  to  the  special  session 
of  Congress  follows: 

I  have  called  the  Congress  into  extraordinary  session  hecanse 
there  are  serious — very  serious — choices  of  policy  to  be  made — • 
and  made  immediately — which  was  neither  right  nor  constitu- 
tionally permissible  that  I  should  assume  the  responsibility  of 
making. 

On  the  third  of  February  last  I  officially  laid  before  you  the 
extraordinary  announcement  of  the  imperial  German  government 
that  on  and  after  the  first  day  of  February  it  was  its  purpose  to 
put  aside  all  restraints  of  law  or  of  humanity  and  use  its  sub- 
marines to  sink  every  vessel  that  sought  to  approach  either  the 
ports  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  or  the  western  coast  of  Europe 
or  any  of  the  ports  controlled  by  the  enemies  of  Germany  within 
the  Mediterranean.  That  has  seemed  to  be  the  object  of  the 
German  submarine  warfare  earlier  in  the  war,  but  since  April  of 
last  year  the  imperial  government  had  somewhat  restrained  the 
commanders  of  its  undersea  craft  in  conformity  with  its  promise 
then  given  to  us  that  passenger  boats  should  not  be  sunk,  and 
that  due  warning  would  be  given  to  all  other  vessels  which  its 
submarines  might  seek  to  destroy,  when  no  resistance  was  offered 
or  escape  attempted,  and  care  taken  that  their  crews  were  given 
at  least  a  fair  chance  to  save  their  lives  in  their  open  boats. 
Their  precautions  taken  were  meager  and  haphazard  enough,  as 
was  proved  in  distressing  instance  after  instance  in  the  progress 
of  the  cruel  and  unmanly  business,  but  a  certain  degree  of 
restraint  was  observed. 

The  new  policy  has  swept  every  restriction  aside.  Vessels  of 
every  kind,  whatever  their  flag,  their  character,  their  cargo,  their 
destination,  their  errand,  have  been  ruthlessly  sent  to  the  bottom 
without  warning  and  without  thought  of  help  or  mercy  for  those 
on  board,  the  vessels  of  friendly  neutrals  along  with  belligerents. 
Even  hospital  ships  and  ships  carrying  relief  to  the  sorely  be- 
reaved and  stricken  people  of  Belgium,  tho  the  latter  were 
provided  with  safe  conduct  thru  the  proscribed  areas  by  the 
German  government  itself  and  were  distinguished  by  unmistakable 
marks  of  identity,  have  been  sunk  with  the  same  reckless  lack 
of  compassion  or  principle. 

I  was  for  a  little  while  unable  to  believe  that  such  things 
would  in.  fact  be  done  by  any  government  that  had  hitherto  sub- 
scribed to  the  humane  practices  of  civilized  nations.  International 


law  had  its  origin  in  the  attempt  to  set  up  some  law,  which 
would  be  respected  and  observed  upon  the  seas,  where  no  nation 
had  right  of  dominion  and  where  lay  the  free  highways  of  the 
world.  By  painful  stage  after  stage  has  that  law  been  built  up 
with  meager  enough  results  indeed,  after  all  was  accomplished 
that  could  be  accomplished,  but  always  with  a  clear  view,  at 
least,  of  what  the  heart  and  conscience  of  mankind  demanded. 

This  minimum  of  right  the  German  government  has  swept 
aside  under  the  plea  of  retaliation  and  necessity  and  because  it 
had  no  weapons  which  it  could  use  at  sea  except  these,  which  it 
is  impossible  to  employ  as  it  is  employing  them  without  throwing 
to  the  winds  all  scruples  of  humanity  or  of  respect  for  the  under- 
standings that  were  supposed  to  underlie  the  intercourse  of  the 
world. 

I  am  not  now  thinking  of  the  loss  of  property  involved,  im- 
mense and  serious  as  that  is,  but  only  of  the  wanton  and  whole- 
sale destruction  of  the  lives  of  non-combatants,  men,  women  and 
children,  engaged  in  pursuits  which  have  always,  even  in  the 
darkest  periods  of  modern  history,  been  deemed  innocent  and 
legitimate.  Property  can  be  paid  for;  the  lives  of  peaceful  and 
innocent  people  cannot  be. 

The  present  German  submarine  warfare  against  commerce  is 
a  warfare  against  mankind.  It  is  a  war  against  all  nations. 
American  ships  have  been  sunk,  American  lives  taken,  in  ways 
which  it  has  stirred  us  very  deeply  to  learn  of,  but  the  ships  and 
people  of  other  neutral  and  friendly  nations  have  been  sunk  and 
overwhelmed  in  the  waters  in  the  same  way.  There  has  been  no 
discrimination.  The  challenge  is  to  all  mankind.  Each  nation 
must  decide  for  itself  how  it  will  meet  it.  The  choice  we  make 
for  ourselves  must  be  made  with  a  moderation  of  counsel  and  a 
temperateness  of  judgment  befitting  our  character  and  our  mo- 
tives as  a  nation.  We  must  put  excited  feeling  away.  Our 
motive  will  not  be  revenge  or  the  victorious  assertion  of  the 
physical  might  of  the  nation,  but  only  the  vindication  of  right, 
of  human  right,  of  which  we  are  only  a  single  champion. 

When  I  addressed  the  Congress  on  the  26th  of  February  last 
I  thought  that  it  would  suffice  to  assert  our  neutral  rights  with 
arms,  our  right  to  use  the  seas  against  unlawful  interference, 
our  right  to  keep  our  people  safe  against  unlawful  violence. 

But  armed  neutrality,  it  now  appears,  is  impracticable.  Be- 
cause submarines  are  in  effect  outlaws  when  used  as  the  German 
submarines  have  been  used  against  merchant  shipping,  it  is  im- 
possible to  defend  ships  against  their  attacks,  as  the  law  of  na- 
tions has  assumed  that  merchantmen  would  defend  themselves 
against  privateers  or  cruisers,  visible  craft  giving  chase  upon  the 
open  sea. 

"  It  is  common  prudence  in  such  circumstances,  grim  necessity 
indeed,  to  endeavor  to  destroy  them  before  they  have  shown  their 
own  intention.  They  must  be  dealt  with  upon  sight,  if  dealt 
with  at  all. 

The  German  government  denies  the  right  of  neutrals  to  use 
arms  at  all  within  the  areas  of  the  sea  which  it  has  prescribed, 


even  in  the  defense  of  rights  which  no  modern  publicist  has  ever 
before  questioned  their  right  to  defend.  The  intimation  is  con- 
veyed that  the  armed  guards  which  we  have  placed  on  our  mer- 
chant ships  will  be  treated  as  beyond  the  pale  of  law  and  subject 
to  be  dealt  with  as  pirates  would  be.  Armed  neutrality  is  in- 
effectual enough  at  best;  in  such  circumstances  and  in  the  face 
of  such  pretensions  it  is  worse  than  ineffectual;  it  is  likely  once 
to  produce  what  it  was  meant  to  prevent;  it  is  practically  certain 
to  draw  us  into  the  war  without  either  the  rights  or  the  effective- 
ness of  belligerents. 

There  is  one  choice  we  cannot  make,  we  are  incapable  of 
making.  We  will  not  choose  the  path  of  submission  and  suffer 
the  most  sacred  rights  of  our  nation  and  our  people  to  be  ignored 
or  violated.  The  wrongs  against  which  we  now  array  ourselves  are 
not  common  wrongs;  they  cut  to  the  very  roots  of  human  life. 

With  a  profound  sense  of  the  solemn  and  even  tragical  char- 
acter of  the  step  I  am  taking  and  of  the  grave  responsibilities 
which  it  involves,  but  in  unhesitating  obedience  to  what  I  deem 
my  constitutional  duty,  I  advise  that  the  Congress  declare  the 
recent  course  of  the  imperial  German  government  to  be  in  fact 
nothing  less  than  war  against  the  government  and  people  of  the 
United  States;  that  it  formally  accept  the  status  of  belligerent, 
which  has  thus  been  thrust  upon  it,  and  that  it  take  immediate 
steps  not  only  to  put  the  country  in  a  more  thoro  state  of 
defense,  but  also  to  exert  all  its  power  and  employ  all  its  re- 
sources to  bring  the  government  of  the  German  empire  to  terms 
and  end  the  war. 

What  this  will  involve  is  clear.  It  will  involve  the  utmost 
practicable  co-operation  in  counsel  and  action  with  the  govern- 
ments now  at  war  with  Germany,  and,  as  incident  to  that,  the 
extension  to  those  governments  of  the  most  liberal  financial 
credits,  in  order  that  our  resources  may,  so  far  as  possible,  be 
added  to  theirs.  It  will  involve  the  organization  and  mobilization 
of  all  the  material  resources  of  the  country  to  supply  the  ma- 
terials of  war  and  serve  the  incidental  needs  of  the  Nation  in  the 
most  abundant,  and  yet  the  most  economical  and  efficient  way 
possible.  It  will  involve  the  immediate  full  equipment  of  the 
Navy  in  all  respects,  but  particularly  in  supplying  it  with  the 
best  means  of  dealing  with  the  enemy's  submarines.  It  will  in- 
volve the  immediate  addition  to  the  armed  forces  of  the  United 
States  already  provided  for  by  law  in  case  of  war,  at  least  500,000 
men,  who  should,  in  my  opinion,  be  chosen  upon  the  principle 
of  universal  liability  to  service,  and  also  the  authorization  of 
subsequent  additional  increments  of  equal  force  so  soon  as  they 
may  be  needed  and  can  be  handled  in  training. 

It  will  involve  also,  of  course,  the  granting  of  adequate  credits 
to  the  Government,  sustained,  I  hope,  so  far  as  they  can  equitably 
be  sustained  by  the  present  generation  by  well-conceived  taxation. 
I  say  sustained  so  far  as  may  be  equitable  by  taxation,  because 
it  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  most  unwise  to  base  the  credits 
which  will  now  be  necessary  entirely  on  money  borrowed.  It  is 
our  duty,  I  most  respectfully  urge,  to  protect  our  people  as  far 


as  we  may  against  the  very  serious  hardships  and  evils  which 
would  be  likely  to  arise  out  of  the  inflation  which  would  be  pro- 
duced by  vast  loans. 

In  carrying  out  the  measures  by  which  these  things  are  to  be 
accomplished  we  should  keep  constantly  in  mind  the  wisdom  of 
interfering  as  little  as  possible  in  our  own  preparation  and  in  the 
equipment  of  our  own  military  forces  with  the  duty — for  it  it  will 
be  a  very  practical  duty — of  supplying  the  nations  already  at  war 
with  Germany  with  the  materials  which  they  can  obtain  only  from 
us  or  by  our  assistance.  They  are  in  the  field  and  we  should 
help  them  in  every  way  to  be  effective  there. 

I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting,  thru  the  several  ex- 
ecutive departments  of  the  Government  for  the  consideration  of 
your  committees,  measures  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  several 
objects  I  have  mentioned.  I  hope  that  it  will  be  your  pleasure 
to  deal  with  them  as  having  been  framed  after  very  careful 
thought  by  the  branch  of  the  Government  upon  which  the  respon- 
sibility of  conducting  the  war  and  safeguarding  the  nation  will 
most  directly  fall. 

While  we  do  these  things,  these  deeply  momentous  things,  let 
us  be  very  clear  and  make  very  clear  to  all  the  world  what  our 
motives  and  what  our  objects  are.  My  own  thought  has  not  been 
driven  from  its  habitual  and  normal  course  by  the  unhappy  events 
of  the  last  two  months,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  the  thought  of 
the  nation  has  been  altered  or  clouded  by  them. 

I  have  exactly  the  same  things  in  mind  now  that  I  had  in 
mind  when  I  addressed  the  Senate  on  the  22d  of  January  last; 
the  same  that  I  had  in  mind  when  I  addressed  the  Congress  on 
the  3d  of  February  and  on  the  26th  of  February. 

Our  object  now,  as  then,  is  to  vindicate  the  principles  of  peace 
and  justice  in  the  life  of  the  world  against  selfish  and  autocratic 
power  and  to  set  up  amongst  the  really  free  and  self-governed 
peoples  of  the  world  such  a  concert  of  purpose  and  of  action  as 
will  henceforth  insure  the  observance  of  those  principles. 

Neutrality  is  no  longer  feasible  or  desirable  where  the  peace 
of  the  world  is  involved  and  the  freedom  of  its  peoples,  and  the 
menace  to  that  peace  and  freedom  lies  in  the  existence  of  auto- 
cratic governments  backed  by  organized  force  which  is  controlled 
wholly  by  their  will,  not  by  the  will  of  their  people.  We  have 
seen  the  last  of  neutrality  in  such  circumstances. 

We  are  at  the  beginning  of  an  age  in  which  it  will  be  insisted 
that  the  same  standards  of  conduct  and  of  responsibility  for 
wrong  done  shall  be  observed  among  nations  and  their  govern- 
ments that  are  observed  among  the  individual  citizens  of  civilized 
states. 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  people.  We  have  no 
feeling  toward  them  but  one  of  sympathy  and  friendship.  It  was 
not  upon  their  impulse  that  their  Government  acted  in  entering 
this  war.  It  was  not  with  their  previous  knowledge  or  approval. 

It  was  a  war  determined  upon  as  wars  used  to  be  determined 
on  in  the  old,  uphappy  days  when  peoples  were  nowhere  con- 
sulted by  their  rulers  and  wars  were  provoked  and  waged  in  the 


Interest  of  dynasties  or  of  little  groups  of  ambitious  men  \vlio 
were  accustomed  to  use  their  fellowmen  as  pawns  and  tools. 

Self-governed  nations  do  not  fill  their  neighbor  states  with 
spies,  or  set  the  course  of  intrigue  to  bring  about  some  critical 
posture  of  affairs  which  will  give  them  an  opportunity  to  strike 
and  make  conquest.  Such  designs  can  be  successfully  worked  only 
under  cover  and  where  no  one  has  the  right  to  ask  questions. 

Cunningly  contrived  plans  of  deception  or  aggression,  carried, 
it  may  be,  from  generation  to  generation,  can  be  worked  out  and 
kept  from  the  light  only  within  the  privacy  of  courts  or  behind 
the  carefully  guarded  confidences  of  a  narrow  and  privileged  class. 
They  are  happily  impossible  where  public  opinion  commands  and 
insists  upon  full  information  concerning  all  the  nation's  affairs. 

A  steadfast  concert  for  peace  can  never  be  maintained  except 
by  a  partnership  of  democratic  nations.  Xo  autocratic  govern- 
ment could  be  trusted  to  keep  faith  within  it  or  conserve  its 
covenants.  It  must  be  a  league  of  honor,  a  partnership  of  opinion. 

Intrigue  would  eat  its  vitals  away;  the  plottings  of  inner 
circles  who  could  plan  what  they  would  and  render  account  to  no 
one  would  be  a  corruption  seated  at  its  very  heart.  Only  free 
peoples  can  hold  their  purpose  and  their  honor  steady  to  a  com- 
mon end  and  prefer  the  interests  of  mankind  to  any  narrow 
interest  of  their  own. 

Does  not  every  American  feel  that  assurance  has  been  added 
to  our  hope  for  the  future  peace  of  the  world  by  the  wonderful 
and  heartening  things  that  have  been  happening  within  the  last 
few  weeks  in  Russia? 

Russia  was  known  by  those  who  knew  it  best  to  have  been 
always  in  fact  democratic  at  heart,  in  all  the  vital  habits  of  her 
thought,  in  all  the  intimate  relationships  of  her  people  that 
spoke  their  natural  instinct,  their  habitual  attitude  toward  life. 

The  autocracy  that  crowned  the  summit  of  her  political  struc- 
ture, long  as  it  has  stood  and  terrible  as  was  the  reality  of  its 
power,  was  not  in  fact  of  Russian  origin,  character  or  purpose; 
and  now  it  has  been  shaken  off  and  the  great,  generous  Russian 
people  have  been  added  in  all  their  native  majesty  and  might  to  the 
forces  that  are  fighting  for  freedom  in  the  world,  for  justice  and 
for  peace.  Here  is  a  fit  partner  for  a  league  of  honor. 

One  of  the  things  that  has  served  to  convince  us  that  the 
Prussian  autocracy  was  not  and  could  never  be  our  friend  is  that 
from  the  very  outset  of  the  present  war  it  has  filled  our  un- 
suspecting communities  and  even  our  offices  of  government  with 
spies  and  set  criminal  intrigues  everywhere  afoot  against  our 
national  unity  and  council,  our  peace  within  and  without  our 
industries  and  our  commerce. 

Indeed,  it  is  now  evident  that  its  spies  were  here  even  before 
the  war  began,  and  it  unhappily  is  not  a  matter  of  conjecture, 
but  a  fact  proved  in  our  courts  of  justice,  that  the  intrigues 
which  have  more  than  once  come  perilously  near  to  disturbing 
the  peace  and  dislocating  the  industries  of  the  country  have  been 
carried  on  at  the  instigation,  with  the  support,  and  even  under 


the   personal   direction   of  official   agents  of  the   Imperial    German 
Government  accredited  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

Even  in  checking  these  things  and  trying  to  extirpate  them 
we  have  sought  to  put  the  most  generous  interpretations  possible 
upon  them  because  we  knew  that  their  source  lay,  not  in  any 
hostile  feeling  or  purpose  of  the  German  people  toward  us  (who 
were,  no  doubt,  as  ignorant  of  them  as  we  ourselves  were),  but 
only  in  the  selfish  designs  of  a  government  that  did  what  it 
pleased  and  told  its  people  nothing.  But  they  have  played  their 
part  in  serving  to  convince  us  at  last  that  that  government  enter- 
tains no  real  friendship  for  us  and  means  to  act  against  our  peace 
and  security  at  its  convenience.  That  it  means  to  stir  up  enemies 
against  us  at  our  very  doors,  the  intercepted  note  to  the  German 
Minister  at  Mexico  City  is  eloquent  evidence. 

We  are  accepting  this  challenge  of  hostile  purpose  because  we 
know  that  in  such  a  government,  following  such  methods,  we  can 
never  have  a  friend;  and  that  in  the  presence  of  its  organized 
power,  always  lying  in  wait  to  accomplish  we  know  not  what 
purpose,  there  can  be  no  assured  security  for  the  democratic  gov- 
ernments of  the  world. 

We  are  now  about  to  accept  the  gage  of  battle  with  this 
natural  foe  to  liberty  and  shall,  if  necessary,  spend  the  whole 
force  of  the  nation  to  check  and  nullify  its  pretensions  and  its 
power.  We  are  glad  now  that  we  see  the  facts  with  no  veil  of 
false  pretense  about  them,  to  fight  thus  for  the  ultimate  peace  of 
the  world  and  for  the  liberation  of  its  peoples,  the  German 
peoples  included;  for  the  rights  of  nations  great  and  small  and  the 
privilege  of  men  everywhere  to  choose  their  way  of  life  and 
of  obedience.  The  world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy.  Its 
peace  must  be  planted  upon  the  trusted  foundation  of  political 
liberty. 

We  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve.  We  desire  no  conquest,  no 
dominion.  We  seek  no  indemnities  for  ourselves,  no  material 
compensation  for  the  sacrifices  we  shall  freely  make.  We  are 
but  one  of  the  champions  of  the  rights  of  mankind.  We  shall  be 
satisfied  when  those  rights  have  been  as  secure  as  the  faith  and 
the  freedom  of  the  nations  can  make  them. 

Just  because  we  fight  without  rancor,  animus,  not  in  enmity 
toward  a  people  nor  with  the  desire  to  bring  any  injury  or  dis- 
advantage upon  them,  but  only  in  armed  opposition  to  an  irre- 
sponsible government  which  has  thrown  aside  all  considerations 
of  humanity  and  of  right  and  is  running  amuck. 

We  are,  let  me  say  again,  the  sincere  friends  of  the  German 
people  and  shall  desire  nothing  so  much  as  the  early  re-establish- 
ment of  intimate  relations  of  mutual  advantage  between  us — 
however  hard  it  may  be  for  them,  for  the  time  being,  to  believe 
that  this  is  spoken  from  our  hearts.  We  have  borne  with  their 
present  government  thru  all  these  bitter  months  because  of  that 
friendship — exercising  a  patience  and  forbearance  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  impossible.  We  shall,  happily,  still  have  an 
opportunity  to  prove  that  friendship  in  our  daily  attitude  and 
action  toward  the  millions  of  men  and  women  of  German  birth 


nnd  native  sympathy  who  live  amongst  us  and  share  our  life,  and 
we  shall  be  proud  to  prove  it  toward  all  who  are  in  fact  loyal 
to  their  neighbors  and  to  this  government  in  the  hour  of  test. 
They  are,  most  of  them,  as  true  and  loyal  Americans  as  if  they 
had  never  known  any  other  fealty  or  allegiance. 

They  will  be  prompt  to  stand  with  us  in  rebuking  and  restrain- 
ing the  few  who  may  be  of  a  different  mind  and  purpose. 

If  there  should  be  disloyalty,  it  will  be  dealt  with  writh  a  firm 
hand  of  stern  repression;  but,  if  it  lifts  its  head  at  all,  it  will 
lift  it  only  here  and  there  and  without  countenance  except  from 
a  lawless  and  malignant  few. 

It  is  a  distressful  and  oppressive  duty,  gentlemen  of  the  Con- 
gress, which  I  have  performed  in  thus  addressing  you.  There  are, 
it  may  be,  many  months  of  fiery  trial  and  sacrifice  ahead  of  us. 
It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great  peaceful  country  into  war, 
into  the  most  terrible  and  disastrous  of  all  wars,  civilization  itself 
seeming  to  be  in  the  balance.  But  the  right  is  more  precious  than 
peace,  and  we  shall  fight  for  the  things  which  we  have  always 
carried  nearest  our  hearts — for  democracy,  for  the  right  of  those 
who  submit  to  authority  to  have  a  voice  in  their  own  govern- 
ments, for  the  rights  and  liberties  of  small  nations,  for  a  universal 
dominion  of  right  by  such  a  concert  of  free  peoples  as  shall  bring 
peace  and  safety  to  all  nations,  and  make  the  world  itself  at 
last  free. 

To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives  and  our  fortunes, 
everything  that  we  are  and  everything  that  we  have  with  the 
pride  of  those  who  know  that  the  day  has  come  when  America 
is  privileged  to  spend  her  blood  and  her  might  for  the  principles 
that  gave  her  birth  and  happiness  and  the  peace  which  she  has 
treasured.  God  helping  her,  she  can  do  no  other. 


PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

WAR  PROCLAMATION 

WHEREAS,  The  Congi  ess  of  the  United  Stales  in  the  exercise 
of  the  constitutional  authority  vested  in  them  have  resolved  by 
joint  resolution  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  bear- 
ing date  this  day  "that  a  state  of  war  between  the  United  States  and 
the  Imperial  German  Government,  which  has  been  thrust  upon  the 
United  States  is  hereby  formally  declared: 

"WHEREAS,  It  is  provided  by  Section  40(57  of  the  Revised  Stat- 
utes, as  follows: 

"'Whenever  there  is  declared  a  war  between  the  United  States 
and  any  foreign  nation  or  government  or  any  invasion  or  predatory 
incursion  perpetuated,  attempted  or  threatened  against  the  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States,  by  any  foreign  nation  or  government 
and  the  President  makes  public  proclamation  of  the  event,  all 
natives,  citizens,  denizens  or  subjects  of  a  hostile  nation  or  govern- 
ment being  male  of  the  age  of  14  years  and  upward  who  shall  be 
within  the  United  States  and  not  actually  naturalized,  shall  be 
liable  to  be  apprehended,  restrained,  secured  and  removed  as  alien 
enemies. 

"  'The  President  is  authorized  in  any  such  event  by  his  procla- 
mation thereof  or  other  public  acts,  to  direct  the  conduct  to  be 
observed  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  toward  the  aliens  who 
become  so  liable;  the  manner  and  degree  of  the  restraint  to  which 
they  shall  be  subject  and  in  what  cases  and  upon  what  security  their 
residence  shall  be  permitted  and  to  provide  for  the  removal  of 
those  who,  not  being  permitted  to  reside  within  the  United  States, 
refuse  or  neglect  to  depart  therefrom;  and  to  establish  any  such 
regulations  which  are  found  necessary  in  the  premises  and  for  the 
public  safety;' 

"WTHEREAS,  By  Sections  40C8,  4069  and  4070  of  the  Revised 
Statutes  further  provision  is  made  relative  to  alien  enemies; 

"Now,  therefore,  I,  Woodrow  Wilson,  President,  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  do  hereby  proclaim,  to  all  whom  it  may  con- 
cern, that  a  state  of  war  exists  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Imperial  German  Government,  and  I  do  specially  direct  all  officers, 
civil  or  military,  of  the  United  States,  that  they  exercise  vigilance 
and  zeal  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  incident  to  such  a  slate  of 
war,  and  I  do,  moreover,  earnestly  appeal  to  all  American  citizens 
that  they,  in  loyal  devotion  to  their  country,  dedicated  from  its 
foundation  to  the  principles  of  liberty  and  justice,  uphold  the  laws 
of  the  land  and  give  undivided  and  willing  support  to  those  meas- 
ures which  may  be  adopted  by  the  constitutional  authorities  in 
prosecuting  the  war  to  a  successful  issue  and  in  obtaining  a  secure 
and  just  peace; 

"And,  acting  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  authority  vested  in  me 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  said  sections  of 
the  Revised  Statutes, 


10 

"I  do  hereby  further  proclaim  and  direct  that  the  conduct  to  be 
observed  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  toward  all  natives,  citi- 
zens, denizens  or  subjects  of  Germany,  being  male,  of  the  age  of 
14  years  and  upward,  who  shall  be  within  the  United  States  and 
not  actually  naturalized,  who,  for  the  purpose  of  this  proclamation 
and  under  such  sections  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  are  termed  alien 
enemies,  shall  be  as  follows: 

"All  alien  enemies  are  enjoined  to  preserve  the  peace  toward 
the  United  States  and  to  refrain  from  crime  against  the  public 
safety  and  from  violating  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of  the 
states  and  territories  thereof  and  to  refrain  from  actual  hostility 
or  giving  information,  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  United 
States  and  to  comply  strictly  with  the  regulations  which  are  hereby 
or  which  may  be  from  time  to  time  promulgated  by  the  President, 
and  so  long  as  they  shall  conduct  themselves  in  accordance  with 
law  they  shall  be  undisturbed  in  the  peaceful  pursuit  of  their  lives 
and  occupations  and  be  accorded  the  consideration  due  to  all  peace- 
ful and  law-abiding  persons,  except  so  far  as  restrictions  may  be 
necessary  for  their  own  protection  and  for  the  safety  of  the  United 
States;  and  toward  such  alien  enemies  as  conduct  themselves  in 
accordance  with  law,  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  are  enjoined 
to  preserve  the  peace  and  to  treat  them  with  all  such  friendliness 
as  may  be  compatible  with  loyalty  and  allegiance  to  the  United 
States. 

"And  all  alien  enemies  who  fail  to  conduct  themselves  as  so 
enjoined,  in  addition  to  all  other  penalties  prescribed  by  law,  shall 
be  liable  to  restraint  or  to  give  security  or  to  remove  and  depart 
from  the  United  States  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  Sections  4069 
and  4070  of  the  Revised  Statutes  and  as  prescribed  in  the  regula- 
tions duly  promulgated  by  the  President. 

"And,  pursuant  to  the  authority  vested  in  me,  I  hereby  declare 
and  establish  the  following  regulations,  which  I  find  necessary  in 
the  premises  and  for  the  public  safety: 

"FIRST — An  alien  enemy  shall  not  have  in  his  possession  at  any 
time  or  place  any  firearms,  weapons  or  implement  of  war,  or  com- 
ponent parts  thereof,  ammunition,  Maxim  or  other  silencer,  arms 
or  explosives  or  material  used  in  the  manufacture  of  explosives; 

''SECOND — An  alien  enemy  shall  not  have  in  his  possession  at 
any  time  or  place  or  use  or  operate  any  aircraft  or  wireless  ap- 
paratus or  any  form  of  signaling  device  or  any  form  of  cipher 
code  or  any  paper,  document  or  book,  written  or  printed  in  cipher, 
or  in  which  there  may  be  invisible  writing; 

"THIRD — All  property  found  in  the  possession  of  an  alien 
enemy  in  violation  of  the  foregoing  regulations  shall  be  subject  to 
seizure  by  the  United  States; 

"FOURTH — An  alien  enemy  shall  not  approach  or  be  found 
within  one-half  of  a  mile  of  any  Federal  or  State  fort,  camp,  ar- 
senal, aircraft  station,  Government  or  naval  vessel,  navy  yard,  fac- 
tory or  work  shop  for  the  manufacture  of  munitions  of  war  or  any 
products  for  use  of  the  Army  or  Navy; 

"FIFTH — An  alien  enemy  shall  not  write,  print  or  publish  any 
attack  or  threat  against  the  Government  or  Congress  of  the  United 
States  or  either  branch  thereof,  or  against  the  measures  or  policy 


11 

of  the  United  States  or  against  the  persons  or  property  of  any 
person  in  the  military,  naval  or  civil  service  of  the  United  States 
or  of  the  states  or  territories  or  of  the  District  of  Columbia  or  of 
the  municipal  governments  therein; 

"SIXTH — An  alien  enemy  shall  not  commit  or  abet  any  hostile 
acts  against  the  United  States  or  give  information,  aid  or  com- 
fort to  its  enemies; 

"SEVENTH — An  alien  enemy  shall  not  reside  in  or  continue  to 
reside  in,  to  remain  in  or  enter  any  locality  which  the  President 
may  from  time  to  time  designate  by  an  executive  order  as  a  pro- 
hibitive area  in  which  residence  by  an  alien  enemy  shall  be  found 
by  him  to  constitute  a  danger  to  the  public  peace  and  safety  of 
the  United  States  except  by  permit  from  the  President  and  except 
under  such  limitations  or  restrictions  as  the  President  may  pre- 
scribe; 

"EIGHTH — An  alien  enemy  whom  the  President  shall  have 
reasonable  cause  to  believe  to  be  aiding  or  about  to  aid  the  enemy 
or  to  be  at  large  to  the  danger  of  the  public  peace  or  safety  of  the 
United  States  or  to  have  violated  or  be  about  to  violate  any  of 
these  regulations,  shall  remove  to  any  location  designated  by  the 
President  by  executive  order  and  shall  not  remove  therefrom,  with- 
out permit,  or  shall  depart  from  the  United  States  if  so  required 
by  the  President; 

"NINTH — No  alien  enemy  shall  depart  from  the  United  States 
until  he  shall  have  received  such  permit  as  the  President  shall  pre- 
scribe, or  except  under  order  of  Court,  Judge  or  Justice,  under 
Sections  4069  and  4070  of  the  Revised  Statutes; 

"TENTH — No  alien  enemy  shall  land  in  or  enter  the  United 
States  except  under  such  restrictions  and  at  such  places  as  the 
President  may  prescribe; 

"ELEVENTH — If  necessary  to  prevent  violation  of  the  regula- 
tions all  alien  enemies  will  be  obliged  to  register; 

"TWELFTH — An  alien  enemy  whom  there  may  be  reasonable 
cause  to  believe  to  be  aiding  or  about  to  aid  the  enemy,  or  who 
be  at  large  to  the  danger  of  the  public  peace  or  safety,  or  who 
violates,  or  who  attempts  to  violate,  or  of  whom  there  is  reason- 
able grounds  to  believe  that  he  is  about  to  violate  any  regulation 
to  be  promulgated  by  the  President,  or  any  criminal  law  of  the 
United  States,  or  of  the  states  or  territories  thereof,  will  be  subject 
to  summary  arrest  by  the  United  States  Marshal  or  his  deputy  or 
such  other  officers  as  the  President  shall  designate,  and  confine- 
ment in  such  penitentiary,  prison,  jail,  military  camp  or  other 
place  of  detention  as  may  be  directed  by  the  President. 

"This  proclamation  and  the  regulations  herein  contained  shall 
extend  and  apply  to  all  land  and  water,  continental  or  insular,  in 
any  way  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States." 


Additional  copies  of  "Wilson's  War  Message" 
may  be  obtained  from  the  undersigned  at  the 
rate  of  one  dollar  per  dozen  copies.  Larger 
quantities  at  reduced  rates.  Address,  enclosing 
amount, 

"WILSON'S  WAR  MESSAGE" 
689    Stevenson    Street  San    Francisco,    Cal. 


X 


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